Ms Sharon Byrne:

I thank the committee for allowing the Irish Bookmakers Association, IBA, to participate in this discussion concerning the heads of the Horse Racing Ireland Bill. I am the chairperson of the Irish Bookmakers Association which represents 70% of the 992 shops in Ireland today. I am accompanied by Mr. Mike O'Kane, who is business director with Ladbrokes.

Irish betting shops are the main contributors to the fund paying over €24 million in betting duty last year. Bookmakers sponsor many meetings across the country and betting shops also pay approximately €30 million in media rights for pictures from Irish racing.

Betting shops, therefore, provide a significant level of support for Ireland’s racing industry and are the primary source of funding for the racing body. More than 6,000 people are directly employed in the industry in Ireland and the number of shops has fallen from 1,365 in 2008 to 992 today. That has resulted in 1,600 job losses across the country. An important figure is the turnover in betting shops which has dropped from €3.6 billion in 2008 to €2.4 billion today. The main reasons for the decline in turnover include recessionary factors plus the increased availability of mobile and online operators which are untaxed.

The IBA believe the current taxation regime on betting shops is inequitable, punitive and requires modernisation and reform. Betting shops are subject to a turnover tax which takes no account of our profitability. Another interesting fact that merits serious consideration by everyone in this room is the fact that inside a betting shop 12% of turnover is on Irish horse racing. For every euro that comes over the counter, 12% is on Irish racing. Betting shops pay a betting duty of €24 million plus another €30 million for the pictures they display in their shops.

The final point I will make before I hand over to my colleague, Mr. Mike O’Kane, is that we have been calling for several years for additional usage of the track at Dundalk. It is the only all-weather track in Ireland and it only races, on average, one night a week throughout the winter. We call for racing to take place there two to three nights per week throughout the winter which would give us additional revenue, increase the turnover tax we pay and give opportunities to trainers, owners and jockeys throughout the winter when we have a very small amount of racing.